An Anishinaabe Studies Syllabus

Inspired by many other public syllabuses such as the #FergusonSyllabus, #CharlestonSyllabus, #StandingRockSyllabus, and others, I decided to create a “syllabus” (more like a generic reading list) of Anishinaabe Studies. This was, in part, an experiment I have wanted to do for a while, in response to a number of academics (including some Anishinaabe scholars!) who told me there wasn’t enough material to claim the existence of Anishinaabe Studies as a field. There are, as of August 15th 2018, over 80 different books (plus a few articles) on this list, most of them by Anishinaabe writers. This doesn’t even begin to touch the vast amounts of Anishinaabe writing that is not in the form of book-length scholarship.

This list is very much a work in progress and I welcome additions and suggestions! Many sections are particularly incomplete, like the history sections and the gender/sexuality sections. And since I’m only one person, I’m sure my biases show (there is a lot of Wisconsin/Minnesota Ojibwe material, which is just because that’s where I grew up and what I know). Please note that I have not read everything on this list and can’t vouch for all of it being perfect. I offer it anyway with the idea that most of it, hopefully, is worth engaging with. In addition, I hope to make a version of this at some point specifically focusing on non-scholarly material and things that can be accessed for free–but I am also a student about to start the school year, so that may be a ways off.

Note: I have chosen to use Anishinaabe as a catch-all umbrella for those Native people who speak a variety of the language known as Anishinaabemowin, or who are citizens of a nation that was part of the Three Fires of Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi people. Please correct me if I have mislabeled anyone’s identity. I have tried to include authors’ tribal affiliation where applicable; Anishinaabe authors are identified by their band or tribe alone in most cases.

Heidi Kiiwetinepinesiik Stark (Turtle Mountain), Stealing fire, scattering ashes: Anishinaabe expressions of sovereignty, nationhood, and land tenure in treaty making with the United States and Canada, 1785—1923 (dissertation)